Recovery
by Demented Insane Spirit
Summary: Implied IonxEsther. Shortly after Radu’s death, Esther returns to Iron Maiden II and helps nurse Ion back to recovery, where they both reflect on the betrayal of their two trusted friends. One shot.


DIS: I can't give a specific time for when this takes place. Sometime after the iblis has passed and after Esther and Abel have reconciled.

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_Title: Recovery_

_Rating: K_

_Genre: General/Romance_

_Summary: Implied IonxEsther. Shortly after Radu's death, Esther returns to Iron Maiden II and helps nurse Ion back to recovery, where they both reflect on the betrayal of their two trusted friends. One shot._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Trinity Blood_

_Notes/Warnings: Implied Ion/Esther; one shot; second attempt in this fandom_

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_Recovery_

Esther sighed as she leaned against the wall, closing her eyes. She had stripped of her tattered robes and was in a normal gown with a silk robe and soft slippers. It was hard being a sister of the Vatican, especially fighting against vampires and all other sorts of people that she had never known existed before. _If only Dietrich had never...But, no. It isn't even that. Being a human is never easy anymore. My life would always be complicated, no matter who I was with, no matter what life I was living. _She opened her eyes and pushed away from the wall, taking a few steps and slowly pushing the door open to the room that the Earl of Memphis was resting in.

She closed the door and stood in the room for a long while, gazing pensively around at the elegant furnishings and the slit of moonlight that was uncovered from the clouds and slid down along the carpet. Esther's eyes glided up to the four-poster bed and her gaze softened slightly. She moved towards the bed and sat carefully on the edge, peering down at the gentle features of Ion. He was a Noble of Modalvia and one of the Tzara Methuselah, but she could not help but like him. She was reminded of herself when she looked at him.

_He was betrayed by his best friend, too, _she mused. Esther turned away from him, gripping her arms tightly as she stared across the room. _Even now, I can't say that I hate Dietrich. He helped me live. I trusted him like no one else. He protected me. How could I hate him after all that he had done for me? And Ion...He was willing to give his life to Radu just so that he could give his friend what he wanted._

"Has thou been watching over us?" A soft, hushed voice queried. Startled, Esther turned to see Ion's wide, golden eyes staring up at her with a blatant curiosity. She could only wonder why it was that Ion was so bemused by the idea of someone sitting beside him during the night. Perhaps, if it had been the Baron of Luxor, it might not have been strange. However, she was practically a stranger to him.

"How are you feeling, Your Excellency?" Esther questioned, smiling warmly. He looked away, his expression shuttered. Her own smile evaporated as she watched him, her heart pulsing with the same sensation that he, no doubt, felt. She lowered her gaze and reached out, taking his hand in hers. "I am sorry for everything that has happened to you. I know exactly how it feels."

"Does thou?" Ion asked in a bitter tone of disbelief, snatching his hand from her touch. "No...Thou does not know how we feel."

"You are mistaken," she replied quietly, looking away from him. The air seemed to chill as she remembered the cold, wintry air when Dietrich betrayed her. She remembered, just before that, the feel of his hands as he gave her his gun and the horror when she shot Father Nightroad; she always wondered if it had been Dietrich who had made it so that the church blew up. The Lady Bishop was dead because of that explosion. That day was full of too many painful thoughts that often overrode the cheerful thoughts she had with the new people in her life. "I have no family, Your Excellency."

Ion blinked, surprised by the new, mournful tone in Esther's voice. He raised his eyes to her face that was bathed in dull moonlight.

"I was raised by a nun, the Lady Bishop...Mother Laura. She was like a _real _mother to me." Esther gave a tiny smile. "She raised me with the same beliefs that she had and I grew to love them. I had to choose between the brutal vampires in our area or those that followed the faith. My choice was obvious. I found...Dietrich, my best and only friend. He told me his family was killed by vampires, but he had been lying...He had been working for the master vampire in Istavan, Gyula. He blew up our church and killed the Lady Bishop." She could feel the familiar prick of tears trying to escape from her eyes, but she determinedly blinked them away. "He made me shoot the Father. If the Father hadn't been there with me, I'm not sure I would have survived what Dietrich did to me."

_Esther...experienced what we did, too? _Ion thought, secretly surprised by this. She had never seemed like anything tragic had happened in her life. He turned his head to stare at the top of the balcony, drinking in the shadows that lay above him. "Doest thou love him?" He asked at last.

"He was my best friend," she said pitifully. This time, it was Ion who reached out to take her hand. Esther closed her eyes, gritting her teeth together as tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. _I won't cry..._ "I _won't_ cry," she spoke aloud, her voice cracking. Ion turned his gaze from the shadows to look at Esther trembling on the edge of the bed. He tugged at her hand and she sniffed, looking to him through a cloudy gaze of tears.

"Come lay with us and mourn," Ion offered. She blinked and then sidled up next to him. He turned on his better shoulder and took both of her hands, clasping them with his. He rested his forehead on their twined hands and closed his eyes, listening to Esther's quiet sobs. He was past tears at this point. Radu was dead and he had cried for him even before he had died. _We did not see tovarăş' inner turmoil...so he betrayed us. He is at peace now._

"I miss him," she whispered after her sobs had subsided. Ion opened his eyes and met her cerulean ones that bored into his. She gave a shaky laugh, a watery smile spreading her mouth upward. His own lips curled and he lowered their hands, touching his forehead to hers.

"We thank thee, Esther, for telling us."

"Thank _you_ for listening." She sniffled. "Nobody ever seems to really...care." When she looked to him, she could see the same thoughts glimmering in his eyes. She smiled at him and he returned it. Weary from her own emotions, she closed her eyes and listened as Ion shifted a bit closer. For a moment, she did not sleep, absorbing the sound of Ion's breathing. It was steady and awake, just as hers was. Gradually, the sound lulled her into sleep and she did not feel the brush of his lips as he kissed just below her eye; she did not hear his last whisper of her name before he, too, fell asleep.

_Finis_

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DIS: Ummm, how was that? It was rather short, but I'm only just seeing the possible romance between Ion and Esther. Please leave a review telling me how it was. Constructive criticism is always accepted. Ciao!


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